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Austro-Hungarian Empire (A Confederate Victory)
The Austro-Hungarian Empire (German: Österreich-Ungarn; Hungarian: Ausztria-Magyarország; Czech: Rakousko-Uhersko; Croatian: Austro-Ugarska), more commonly known as Austria-Hungary, is a constitutional union of the Austrian Empire (the kingdoms and lands represented in the Imperial Council, or Cisleithania) and the Kingdom of Hungary (Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen or Transleithania) that was formed in 1867. The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867, when the compromise was ratified by the Hungarian parliament. Austria-Hungary consists of two monarchies (Austria and Hungary), and one autonomous region: the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown, which negotiated the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (Nagodba) in 1868. It is ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal. The Compromise required regular renewal, as did the customs union between the two components of the union. Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary is a multinational state and was one of the world's great powers at the outbreak of World War I. Austria-Hungary is geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Empire of Germany, at 1,164,388 km2 (449,575 sq mi), and the third-most populous (after the Empire of Germany and the Empire of Italy). At 10,229,891 km2 (3,949,803 sq mi), the Austro-Hungarian colonial empire is the third-largest in Europe after the Empire of Germany and the Empire of Italy, and one of the largest colonial empires in the world. The Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, the Empire of Germany, and the British Empire. Austria-Hungary also became the world's third largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances, electric industrial appliances and power generation apparatuses for power plants, after the United States and the Empire of Germany. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was fully annexed in 1908, provoking the Bosnian crisis among the other powers. Sandžak/Raška, de jure northern part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Novi Pazar, was also under de facto joint occupation during that period but the Austro-Hungarian army withdrew as part of their annexation of Bosnia. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as an official state religion due to Bosnia's Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I. Austria-Hungary invaded and defeated the Kingdom of Serbia in the Balkans Campaign, supported by the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. It also fought the Russian Empire on the Eastern Front, alongside the German Empire, which resulted in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1917. The Austro-Hungarian Empire also fought the Allied Powers in the North African Campaign in North Africa. The Central Powers emerged victorious in World War I, with Austria-Hungary being recognized as a major industrial and military great power. In the interwar period, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sought to build up its military and develope new types of weapons in response to the rise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union as a military superpower. The ''Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine'' underwent massive rearmament and modernization programs. The four ''Tegetthoff''-class battleships were heavily modernized and underwent an massive reconstruction, increasing the displacement from 21,600 to 36,000 tonnes. The twelve 30.5 cm (12 inch) guns in triple turrets were replaced with larger 38 cm (15 inch) guns in twin turrets. The four new ''Ersatz Monarch''-class battleships built in the mid-1910s to early 1920s were also heavily modernized and enlarged in the mid-1920s to early 1930s, which saw the displacement increased from 31,000 to over 48,000 tonnes and the 34 cm (14 inch) guns in triple turrets were replaced with the larger 42 cm (16.5 inch) guns in twin turrets. Inspired by the German ''H''-class super battleships ordered for the German ''Kaiserliche Marine'', the Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine ordered four 56,000-tons H39-class battleships, three 131,000-tons H44-class super battleships and one 700,000-tons H45-class super battleship from the German Empire in the early to mid-1930s, to be built in Austria-Hungary. By 1940, the Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine was the largest navy in the Mediterranean and the fourth largest navy in the world, after the Soviet Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the Kaiserliche Marine.